Tag: Beaver relocation

Beaver Reality Bytes

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental April 9, 2012

web_mon_facts_j_1393068cl-8 — Jill Mcqueston: The Globe & Mail

It was the moment of the big release! And then nothing happened. I opened the cage door expecting a frantic flurry and all I got was the feeling that I just acquired a new pet. While the three of us sat side by side on a knoll overlooking rolling farmland and a winding river, I felt a rare serenity.

This is a fun article. I like almost everything about it. She explains that at the time she was living on a 60 acre fish hatchery in Quebec. (That made me think of the Methow Project.) (Of course the irony is that if more people tolerated beavers Quebec wouldn’t need a fish hatchery in the first place.) The good-hearted writer was bothered by a beaver whose dams threatened to flood her home, so after months of painstakingly removing them by hand (only to have them instantly rebuilt) she decided to call in a trapper. The trapper promised to live trap the beaver and take it to someplace wonderful, but the night before he came she realized that might be the afterlife.

She woke up early and emptied the trap herself.

We paid big bucks for the assurance that the little guy would be safely trapped and transported in a cage to a “beaver heaven.” But that morning I had the sinking feeling that the “heaven” in question would be the biblical kind. Disguising myself with a baseball cap and a man’s jacket (I knew the neighbours would not approve of my impending actions), I hauled out the wheelbarrow. I summoned a strength I didn’t know that my skinny arms had in order to lift the heavy cage, complete with the captured critter, onto the wheelbarrow. After covering the cage with a blanket, Gypsy and I set off with our charge along a dirt road to find a release spot.

I had always thought that there were two kinds of people in the world. The kind who were sensitive and caring about all that was vulnerable, and the kind who were not.

She uses the incident to comment on moral relativity in human responses to animals, and show how compassion is always a little expensive. True, but I can’t help but wish that rather than spend time musing on the moral lessons of her past she had used the Google to find information about beaver management. Relocating one beaver is not likely to solve her problem, but a properly installed flow device would.

The irony of course is that even though she is working so hard to take care of this beaver, relocating him with no family members in a strange land is likely terminal anyway. Not to mention she probably has a family of beavers on her property, so she won’t have solved her problem OR saved his life.

I dispatched this to the Globe and Mail, let’s hope if they don’t print it they at least send it to her for next time!

Almost the Right Answer

Ms. McQueston’s lovely article communicated a thoughtful regard for wildlife and I wish I was lucky enough to be her neighbor. I would have told her about the use of proven, inexpensive flow devices that can safely control pond height and prevent her home from flooding. Maybe I would have explained over coffee that beavers are a keystone species and create habitat for birds, fish and wildlife that she can enjoy for years to come. Over the back fence I could have told her how the dams raise the water table, prevent drought and improve water quality. Later when we were alone I could explain how very unlikely it is that all her problems were caused by a single beaver, and that the remaining family is likely expecting new kits in the summer. I would pat her hand and say this was a noble effort but since beavers are highly social animals (and very territorial!) relocating a single family member is usually a prolonged death sentence.

Since we’re sadly not neighbors I can only hope that she reads this and continues to look for better solutions next time.

One for the good guys!

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational March 1, 2012

Remember when Amanda Parrish of the Lands Council testified at the capital building about beavers? Well the bill just passed 49-0. How’s that for successful persuasion?

The proposal, described by Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island, as a “cute, furry little bill,” allows the Department of Fish and Wildlife to set up a system in which a landowner who wants to improve groundwater or downstream flows can request beavers being captured elsewhere and removed from land where they are creating a nuisance.

Apparently the rare moment of consensus made the senate giddy for a while and they spent time complaining about liberal beavers that won’t build dams and domestic partnerships for same sex beaver couples. Whatever. It was a good bill and a great effort in what is still the best beaver state in the nation!

The bill actually represents a meeting of the minds between city and rural residents in Eastern Washington, Sen. Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said. And it has a serious purpose, as well as a long history, sponsor Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, said. He and other landowners in northwest Washington were interested in getting relocated beavers to help recharge their aquifers and help regulate stream flows, but the Department of Fish and Wildlife said there was no authority to do that.

Hopefully, the fact that its so unusual to get a vote count of 49-0 for anything these days will spur it into the spotlight and other states (like California for instance) will start to think “hey why can’t we move beavers?”.

The Legislature overwhelmingly passed a similar bill, minus the regional restrictions, in 2005, but Gov. Chris Gregoire exercised the first veto of her tenure to kill it because of objections from Fish and Wildlife. Studies were ordered, and several subsequent bills got part way through the Legislature before running out of time.

(And if you think the Department of Fish and Wildlife was once violently opposed to this idea in Washington, wait until you get a load of how the Department of Fish and Game in California is going to react! Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.)

Since then, the Lands Council has received a grant from the state Department of Ecology to trap and relocate beavers as whole families. Research shows that a single relocated beaver will usually leave its new location to return to its old home and family; a relocated family tends to stay put in the new home. That group will take the lead on the relocations.

And beaver family members will stay on the luxurious grounds of the Joe & Amanda backyard hotel during their brief relocation process! Did someone say field trip? It will take me a while to fully believe this, but in the mean time I may have to move to Washington. The bill was sponsored by a republican from Wauconda.

Kretz would still like a beaver family for a stream on his property at some point, but the issue has gone beyond that, to improving water conditions in dry parts of the state. “I’m just interested in water retention, up high.

Yearling & Kit — "GQ" giving a beaver back ride to kit: Photo Heidi Perryman

Oh and this just came in today’s Gazette…

Whistlin’ Dixie

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers May 31, 2011

Citizens deciding how to spend $1.5M in Dixie National Forest

Mark Havnes: Utah News

Cedar City • Beavers could soon be frolicking in the waterways of Dixie National Forest in southwestern Utah. Beaver transplants were just one project approved by a citizens’ groupcharged with deciding how to use $1.5 million given by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to counties for projects benefiting national forests.

I know it’s the first thing I’d spend money on! Bring back the beavers who can bring back the water who can bring back the fish and the birds and the wildlife that people go to a National Park to enjoy. Apparently a citizen group gets the authority to point these moneys in the needed direction. Part of it goes to relocating beavers and part of it goes to teaching the public how to build flow devices.

Also approved was more than $9,800 for the environmental group Grand Canyon Trust to develop public workshops on how to build flow-control devices so farmers, ranchers and others who depend on irrigation can coexist with the beavers.

With a beaver-ear to the ground I knew that something big was up when last week I heard from two well-known but as-yet-undisclosed beaver defenders that they had been approached about the contract. Moving beavers and managing beavers. Regular readers can probably fill in the names for themselves for the time being, but we’re talking good news for the beavers in Utah, and probably Arizona and Nevada too.

Beavers aren’t the only keystone species to do well in this contract

Another $20,800 will be used to relocate colonies of the threatened Utah prairie dog from Iron County to forest land and $29,500 to fight the threat of plague in existing colonies. Prairie dogs are a perpetual problem for land developers in the area.

Obviously the unwritten maestro in this symphony is the tireless Mary O’Brien of the Grand Canyon Land Trust. She has clearly made beaver pathways all over Utah and the state is lucky to have her. Rumor is she’s trekking to California this August to learn how Martinez throws a beaver festival, so maybe you can thank her yourself.

Don’t ever Heave a Beaver by the Tail!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Rehabilitation, Beavers elsewhere, Educational April 25, 2011

I woke up this morning thinking of a nonsense rhyme I learned when I was a child and wondering why it had never occurred to me to adapt it before now.

If you watched the generally remarkable Oregon Field Guide you probably remember the clip of the uncomfortable-looking biologist holding the squirming beaver kit by its tail as he releases it all-to-willingly into the water. Expert beaver relocator Sherri Tippie had an unsurprising reaction to that image, and wrote:

Heidi, You’ve probably seen this – but I was freaked out, you should NEVER carry a beaver by the tail like this guy did! You can break their tail!!! Otherwise the video is wonderful!! I yelled when I saw that! It’s really easy to break their tails, especially the young ones. He was afraid of the baby. . . I bet that’s why he grabbed him like that. I do like that idea of sticking posts in the water. I would like to try that. Love, Sherri

Hmmm. Powerful advice from a passionate expert. It forced me to try some Monday morning poetry. The amusing column on the left was written by Jack Pretlusky, the first ever children’s poet laureate and generally remarkable writer. The column on the right is my homage. What ever you might think of my attempt, in the unlikely event that the opportunity should present itself, don’t neglect the advice!

“I’ll do it!”

heidi08 Beaver Rehabilitation, Friends of Martinez Beavers February 16, 2011

For me, the most powerful part of the state of the beaver conference, was hearing Sherri Tippie talk about stumbling into her role as the top beaver relocator in the united states. For nearly a quarter of a century, Sherri has been the go-to voice on beaver relocation. In the past few years she is more interested in beaver management than relocation, and when consulted she first talks about flow devices, wrapping trees and installing beaver deceivers. Her pragmatic affection for these animals – and willingness to have her life completely transformed by them – both thrilled me and made me feel deeply relaxed. When I wasn’t shedding tears or covered with goosebumps at her talk, I felt strangely like a child falling asleep in the back of the car — completely assured of security and knowing the adult in the front seat would get me home safe.

Beavers and their advocacy are in good hands with Sherri. I thought the best way to share the experience was to give you your own. Accept my apologies for the audio but you don’t want to miss this.

Sherri still considers herself a hairdresser by trade, and doesn’t charge for relocation. She works closely with state parks and fish and wildlife and has generally earned a reputation as both compassionate and competent. She has a literal bastion of friends and supporters that she teaches to operate hancock traps and monitor flow devices. Her book on ‘Working with beaver’ was recently published by the Grand Canyon Trust and is an inspiring, practical read and a major achievement.

Several times during her talk she spoke about being personally affected by the beavers in her temporary care – an injured animal that had stood up to say goodbye upon release – a badly treated beaver that a zoo had rejected as ‘vicious’ that came to love and trust her almost immediately. Sherri said firmly that she always tells beavers what she’s going to do before she does it, and they almost always calmly cooperate. She emphasizes that each beaver is an individual, with unique habits and preferences.

Sherri uses both experience and intuition in her work with beavers. She said when you’re trapping beavers you can’t do anything else, because you have to be there the next morning without fail. She remarked that she used to use apples to lure beavers into the hancock traps, but found the drive in her small car with a gaggle of gassy beavers a little uncomfortable. Now she covers the traps with leaves, so that the beaver can calmly enjoy a meal while he’s waiting for her arrival. She described having a ‘feeling’ about how many beavers were in a colony, and when the last member of the family was trapped. Interestingly she said the father was often the first, and often found with kits in the cage.

Mom was usually the last.

if you need more proof of her startling attention and compassion for these remarkable animals, I just received a note from her about the ‘beaver valentine’ saying:

Just opened this. Thank you so much!! What a perfect beaver. Hey, is it just the beaver I’ve seen or have you noticed how they sort of hold their little finger up when they’re holding or eating something? 🙂

My goodness, I hadn’t noticed that before. but you’re absolutely right! Thank you for your courage, compassion and common sense. The world is a much better place with you in it – and not just for beavers.